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Community hospitals could be better integrated into the current healthcare system in England and can play an important role in the middle of the patient journey between home and hospital. If done correctly, community hospitals could be a traditional solution to help address some of the modern day challenges of the NHS.

Cyber criminals may be preying on hospitals because cyber protection measures likely have not kept pace with electronic data collection and because hospitals typically do not have backup systems and databases in place, even though such attacks can strain health care systems and potentially put patients' lives at risk.

Electronic health records in U.S. hospitals are not yet prompting for screening questions related to Zika virus. Why? The existing system is too slow to respond and when it does, it finds itself chasing the past.

Natural and man-made mass-casualty incidents are a growing threat. Evaluating successes and shortcomings after each crisis can contribute to the design and implementation of robust and resilient response systems and ensure the best possible outcomes for individuals and impacted communities.

Inspections have become more prominent in England's approach to health service regulation as a way to identify problems before they occur. But the evidence of regulation contributing to better quality of care in different systems is scarce.

Two mothers gave birth within weeks of each other, at the same hospital, using the same employer-sponsored insurance. Both had an epidural. But one received a surprise physician bill for anesthesiology, while the other didn't have to pay a dime. Why?

A new approach may be needed to finance an emerging breed of expensive but highly effective pharmaceuticals and vaccines. The health care industry could learn from other industry approaches such as equipment leases or supplier-financed credit.

It's not unusual for a demonstration to fall short of its original objectives. Learning from such cases is part of the innovation process. This is especially worthwhile for bundled payment, which has many potential benefits for patients, providers, and payers.

If it doesn't seem that state laws as currently written can help increase the number of health care workers vaccinated against influenza, then what can? There is evidence that imposing consequences for vaccination refusal, including the requirement to wear a surgical mask, can help.

It was widely assumed that Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital would be the next storied public hospital close its doors, but at its darkest hour, it received help from an unexpected quarter, says Art Kellermann.

Boston's health care providers reacted the way they did because they knew what they were supposed to do. Those who did not were smart enough to follow the lead of those who did. That's how a “ritualized” disaster plan works.

Former Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill, a RAND Trustee and Health Advisory Board member, published an open letter to President Obama in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this week in which he asks the president to use his executive power to address the problem of medical errors.

The problem is that on any given day, disaster preparedness takes a back seat to ongoing operations. The tyranny of the urgent prevents hospital administrators from making investments in preparedness, writes Art Kellermann.

Hospitals that perform better on the survey tend to do better on clinical measures, have fewer readmissions within 30 days and have lower risk-adjusted mortality, write Marc Elliott and Alan Zaslavsky.

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It's a mistake to assume that a single-payer health care system will automatically come with cost savings. It might be easy to support the concept of single-payer, but serious consideration should be given to addressing how to pay for the plan and control costs.

Associate Policy Researcher

French Army culture is relevant for armed forces interested in becoming more expeditionary, learning how to be effective at mission command, or simply making the most of small forces. But the risk is great... mission command requires placing a lot of trust in young officers.

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